Such a cable coupling has been known from, e.g., DE 29 22 439 A1. The cable coupling is arranged and guided on a support under the tight coupling. The mechanical central buffer coupling is designed as a tight coupling to be connected manually, the two coupling halves of which are connected by a coupling sleeve. On the support, which comprises two support plates, which are arranged at right angles to the coupling axis and are arranged to the left and right of the coupling rod and are connected by two tie rods, mounting holes are provided in the support plates for the longitudinally displaceable mounting of guide bars. Furthermore, centering members are provided on the support places for the accurate flush alignment of the ends of the two coupling rods. The ends of the coupling rods have beads, which are surrounded by the coupling sleeve in a nonpositive and positive-locking manner. The half of the cable coupling that is assigned to each coupling rod is held by springs in its uncoupled position located behind the front surface of the mechanical coupling half and can be pushed forward into the coupled position for coupling.
It should be borne in mind in connection with the coupling of the electrical cable coupling that only the contacts on the vertical central longitudinal plane are always coupled in a correctly functioning manner and in a correct left-right configuration without additional measures. Contacts of the cable coupling of a vehicle end that are arranged to the left and right of this plane are usually on the opposite side at the end of the adjacent vehicle to be coupled. This problem was solved, e.g., by making the contacts redundant, i.e., contacts configured for the same functions are arranged mirror symmetrically on both sides to the left and right of the ventral central longitudinal plane. Small, lightweight couplings, which can be connected and uncoupled rapidly and simply, are desirable for cable couplings that are used for tight couplings to be connected manually. However, the reduction of the weight and the overall size strongly depends on the number of contacts to be accommodated in the contact support. The current expense for two complete, longitudinally displaceable cable coupling halves does not seem to be justified, either, if the advantage in terms of saving manpower and time is not given here compared with the actuation of fully automatic central buffer couplings in the case of tight couplings that can be operated only manually.
A similar cable coupling is also known from DE 41 34 327 A1, which has the same drawbacks.